Most of us heard the classic stories about normal people who do extraordinary things at some times.  For example, a man’s child is trapped beneath his car, and in a burst of strength he lifts the car to let the child crawl out.   

That’s what adrenaline is designed to do for us.  With this super hormone, we could be absolutely calm in times of panic or have exceptional strength available when our lives are in danger.  When our mind receives the signal that someone or something valuable to us is in some kind of danger, adrenaline is released in our blood stream to handle the situation in an instant. 

Logic tells us that we’re not at all in danger, but emotions tell us something else.  That deadline to finish a project for a client, that argument you’ve had with your spouse, the investment that might fall through.  We keep on telling ourselves it will get better, but our unconscious mind don’t know about past or future, it only think about now.  The problem is now, and it’s immediate danger to the things that’s important to us. 

We use a word for these dangers, so popular that we almost ignore it.  Stress.  Tension.  Each time we’re stressed about something, adrenaline is released.  Since we’re created to do something physical, fight or flight, the adrenaline is use up when we do nothing active.  Then it builds up and our muscles get stiff and sore.  We know it’s from stress, but most of us didn’t realise it’s from an adrenaline build-up. 

In my day to day job, I’m advising my clients constantly, to get rid of the build-up, in the way we’re designed to get it out of our system.  That is to get active, to exercise. 

I found it myself.  My right shoulder used to get extremely sore.  That was because of constant computer work.  In the same time, I wasn’t really active.  When I set myself a new goal to build 20kg of muscle, soon I realised that I was stiff all over, but not in my shoulders.  After a couple of week’s exercise, my stiffness disappeared completely.  I knew the facts about adrenaline build-up before, but recently I discovered the truth of it for myself. 

Stressful situations will still come, we won’t change that.  But we can definitely change the side effects of stress.    

If you don’t like exercise, my guess is that you just haven’t found something that you like.  We were created to be active.  Not all of us like the same types of exercise, so there is something out there for you.  Finding it, might take some experimenting on your side.  Otherwise you could talk to a personal trainer at your local gym, or talk to your kid’s sports coach, or a wellness coach or people in these industries.  These people would be able to give you accurate advice to find something you like. 

We don’t need to talk about all the health benefits of exercising, you know about most already.  But now you know that exercise plays a determining role in controlling the side effects of stress. 

In the end, you’re in control.  You could let adrenaline work for you to improve your health, or it could work against you.

If you want Francois to help you to design a effective plan to get active, browse through his website and contact him to attend the wellness seminar or the Weight Loss Challenge.